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Am I the only one who wants a British Stephanie Brown?

Just the thought of her calling Riddler a twat before kicking him in the face is too good for me to prefer an American Steph.

Also her and Alfred can bond as the only Brits in the batfam.

They just go full cogney and nobody can understand what they’re saying

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so when damian is demonized by writers, that’s bad writing.

when dick is depicted as a manwhore by writers, that’s bad writing.

when jason and tim are depicted as murderers, that’s bad writing.

when kory is depicted as born sexy yesterday, that’s bad writing.

but when gar is depicted like a nasty perv years ago, he should be written out of the TT permanently?

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every ot3 has these very important roles:

person a, who runs headlong into crazy bullshit

person b, who acts like they’re too sensible to run headlong into crazy bullshit, but is really just as bad as person a

person c, who actually tries to avoid running headlong into crazy bullshit, but keeps getting dragged into it by the other two anyway

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Hello yes it is me again the person who loves garfield logan an unhealthy amount! For the headcanon asks, I'm stuck between 11 (what is this character's favorite animal) and 12 (what's a bad habit they have/had) of course for beast boy lol

11) Ok I love the idea that when he was little in Africa it was always the most dangerous thing he could find. Like obviously all the big cats; lions, tigers, panthers but for some reason he was just drawn to what could absolutely kill him even if it didn’t necessarily look dangerous (*cough Raven). His (biological, not Rita) mom finding him outside when he was four, on his stomach playing with a scorpion. Then as he’s growing up it’s a different favorite animal every day, he just loves the thrill of learning about new ones. I really don’t think he has a favorite but he has different things he loves about them.

12) I think he picks at his nails when he gets nervous so he paints them to stop himself from destroying the polish. On a less superficial side, I think he can get kinda touchy when he’s in a bad mood. Like the smallest thing will set him off and he usually tries to be alone when he’s like that because he doesn’t want to snap at someone.

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Gar, thanksgiving?

uhhhhhhhhhh, y’all already know my opinion on Steve, right?

Honestly I feel like we don’t give Gar’s shitty family situation enough attention. Like people will bitch till doomsday about Bruce but he does love his kids. Gar was told since he was basically a kindergartener that his worth and value to anyone was dependent on how well he could follow Mento’s orders, his own conscience be damned. It’s such a testament to his own character and how genuinely good and decent he is that his spirit was never truly broken. Thank God for Rita at least, Larry and Cliff too. I just imagine him having to slowly grieve his family as he grows up and realizes they’ve all been pretending for years to be okay. 

Just angst . . .

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first finished piece of 2021

Maybe it’s the oldest sister in me but I really don’t think Kom would ever have sacrificed Kory and Ryan to save herself. Kom had the oldest daughter pressure put on her from a very young age (except it was practically tripled because she was the heir to the throne) by both her parents and I hate to say it, probably Galfore. It’s reasonable that she would resent them and even the Tamaranian people but at least in my experience, she would see her little siblings as a lifeline. The only people who love her for her, not for who she’s supposed to be and become. That anger builds and builds until the Gordanians attack when she’s fifteen. Her parents are killed, her home is in chaos and she doesn’t care as long as she can keep Kory and Ryan safe. Somehow in the panic, she looses Ryan and she needs to find him but she can’t risk Kory.

That’s when she sees the slave ship and in an horrible, horrible moment she knows what she needs to do. When Kom puts her on that ship and runs, she understands what’s going to happen to Kory. She knows that the person she loves most in the world will think she betrayed her and she hopes it’s enough to keep her away. 

Away is safe.

Komand’r is not a good person, that’s not what I’m trying to say here. My point is that there’s a reason people do what they do. Everybody has a weakness and Kom would be more interesting if her’s wasn’t just jealousy. 

Weiterlesen

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Beast Boy in YJO

A meta about Beast Boy featuring a critique of Young Justice Outsiders. Lots of my opinions below. Ignore if you don’t agree or don’t care.

Beast Boy as a whole, has been depicted wonderfully in Young Justice. Normally, I’m not a fan of changing character backstories (especially when it’s my favorite character), but Young Justice gave a refreshing, believable, and entertaining new twist to Gars story. It was a good change that opens a lot of fun elements to play around with from a storyteller perspective. In season 2, we were able to see the lovable, goofy kid that Gar is known to be. We also saw him confront the terrible loss of his birth mother, which we really haven’t seen in animation up until then. It was a good balance of heartwarming and tragedy that reflects a lot about Gars character. Now finally, we see Gar being shown as a grown, mature, confident leader. It’s wonderful, but…that’s not him.

It’s fantastic to see people gush and admire a character I’ve loved for years. I’m tickled pink by the fact that Young Justice has shown a positive light onto a character that often gets the shaft by DC. For years, I’ve been begging for Beast Boy to be treated seriously for a change. I was, and still am, tired of seeing him being nothing more than the butt of a joke. The class clown that only serves as comedic relief. In NTT, Gar was just the goofy kid, but at least Marv Wolfman addressed that and used it as a point of conflict for Gar. Part of his character development was seeing him grow and push out of the mold he had set for himself.

In 2003, Geoff Johns did an amazing job of continuing this character growth by putting Gar into a leadership role. Geoff challenged Gar. He explored the character and the potential of the character. For the first time, we saw Gar as an adult and Geoff created the perfect balance of an older, mature Gar Logan with the lovable, goofy kid that he was known to be. Geoff didn’t wipe away all the silliness and lightheartedness that made Gar’s character fun to read about. Why? Probably because he understood that part of Beast Boy was more than just childish antics. Gar uses humor to mask his depression and self-loathing. For him, being the kid of the team took the pressure off of him to be the hero and it was easier for him to live up to people’s expectations when all they expected was for him to crack a few jokes. Gar wasn’t serious, because he didn’t want to be taken seriously. Not yet, anyway. As a kid, humor was a defense mechanism and that’s not really something one can grow out of. It’s like a bad habit and habits die hard. That’s why, when he does reach the point where he wants to be taken seriously, it’s difficult for him to drop some of his childish ways.

Throughout Geoff’s run, we see Gar go through some of these growing pains. It takes time to grow up. No kid wakes up an adult. Well, a mature, self-assured adult. It takes a lot of learning and developing as a person before anyone can reach the point where they are their best selves. And someone going from a follower to a leader has, even more, to learn before they are prepared to help and teach others. Geoff recognized this and addressed this growth in Gar.

Gar being surprised when Vic leaves him in charge.

Jaime doubting Gar’s leadership when Gar puts his feelings before the safety of the team, and his emotions over logic.

Gar doubting himself and his leadership abilities. 

Raven admitting to Vic that Gar is trying to lead like Nightwing, instead of being himself. 

We see Gar go through many obstacles as he learns how to be an effective leader and also how to balance this with his personal life. He goes through ups and downs. He’s reluctant at first to become the leader. He doubts himself. He second guesses himself. He struggles to find his own leadership style. He’s imperfect. And that why I love him so much! His journey from childhood to adulthood is relatable. His struggles are natural and personable. And when he does succeed, it’s meaningful.

Young Justice this season gives us the serious Beast Boy that I always wanted, but they do so without showing us his development. It’s just one day he’s a sweet kid and the next he’s this broody teenager. We see a little bit of reasoning behind the change in his character in “Nightmare Monkies” when we see what he went through in between seasons 2 and 3, but that little, tiny glimpse didn’t have the same effect as it would have, had we been on that journey with him.

Because of this, I think it contributes to why his current status as a team leader feels off to me. It’s not organic. The way Gar is talking doesn’t sound like him. His confidence, while desirable in a leader, isn’t how Gar leads. When Gar stands up on his soapbox and starts preaching about a revolution, he walks it back a little amending it to “at least a small one.” That was a peak of some of his self-doubt, but not at all where he should be at this point. I totally believe Gar is a great leader, but he has to work to get there. Young Justice isn’t making him work for it and I think that’s why his portrayal this season bothers me. It’s the reverse of the problem DC normally has with Gar. Instead of making him a hollowed out clown, they made him into a hollowed out brood.

So to my point, I wish DC knew how to give us complex, characters with depth and layers, outside of comics. Young Justice doesn’t quite have the “it’s a kids show” excuse anymore and I think they really missed the mark with this one. Don’t get me wrong, I am and will forever be grateful to YJ for shining this positive light on Beast Boy. My boy deserves the love and attention! But for the people just now starting to appreciate my favorite character, please know that this is not him at his best. There is so much more YJ could have done for him and what you see is not Beast Boy at his all. 

Beast Boy is a “rise to the occasion” leader, not a “natural born” leader.  

If you took the time to read this, thank you! I hope you learned something and developed a deeper appreciation for the one and only Gar Logan! I’m happy to hear comments and share any more knowledge I may have on this amazing character. Just please, nothing negative. If you disagree, that’s fine, but my opinion isn’t going to change so don’t waste your time trying to change it. Thanks again for hearing me out and reblogs are always appreciated!

Remember, Beast Boy is Best Boy! 💚💚💚

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When he transforms into an animal he gets every ability that this animal has.

So he can change his skin to other colors as animals that can change their skin color, like chameleon, octopus, Peacock Flonders, Crab Spiders, ...

In other forms he can't change his colors without help through partial transformation. He would need to partial change his skin, muscles and cells to borrow the ability to change color from other animals, so that the form looks normal (not green). That is very exhausting and he can't do it for long (maybe an hour).

A thought: If Beast Boy turns into an animal that can change color (chameleon, octopus, etc), can he change his color?

I mean... there’s no reason why he shouldn’t be able to.  He gains all of an animal’s abilities when he changes form, typically.

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honestly i feel like this scene reveals a lot about beast boy’s character. this man, groundhog mode and all, risked his life going into terra’s tornado knowing damn well she couldn’t control her powers, which makes worse because she was capable of anything and everything. he didn’t know her that well or long enough, but from his facial expressions throughout this episode you could really tell her cared about her. you could almost say, he had a protective and motherly instinct *cough* animal instinct *cough* keep in mind bb is typically not confident about his powers bc he gets beat up a lot, but he went in and helped her anyways. he would have been such a great bf if it wasn’t for slade getting in the way and manipulating her. he could of seen her and her lack of control as a nuisance but instead he was ready to risk it all and not let her go through her pain alone. anyways happy late valentine’s day ! bb was already outdoing every other man out there since 2003 ✨✨

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hot take of the day: Raven is not a goth.

It takes a bit more than just having dark-ish hair and a somewhat macabre sense of aesthetics to be goth, but consider the point that Raven is not actually from the same Earth as the Teen Titans and other heroes, but was born and raised in a sub-dimension of sorts.

From the brief visit she pays to it when speaking with her mother, its clear that not only does her mother dress pretty much like her, but the entire realm has the same dark, foreboding aesthetic Raven is shown to prefer.

Conclusion: Raven is not a goth, she likes the conventional styles of her homeland, which by her standards, makes her a normie.

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on the one hand, if Beast Boy wasn’t green, he would be able to lead a normal life and do a lot of pranks by turning into animals and messing with people by making them unsure if it’s him or just a regular animal being obnoxious

but on the other hand, Beast Boy being unable to live a normal life and mostly even being unable to assume an animal form without people automatically knowing it’s him, the chimeric freak more beast than man by now, is part of the point of Beast Boy

like, in the older comics, Beast Boy is massively bitter and incredibly passive-aggressive, and for good reason. He never really wanted to be a superhero. he wanted to be an actor, just like his adoptive mother and idol Rita Farr/Elastigirl. But because he’s green and has big pointy ears, he can’t get a job playing any role other than alien extras in Star Trek expies.

He doesn’t become a superhero because he wants to. It’s the only kind of occupation he can, and the only place he has any friends or family or people that respect him.

so he’s a funny guy. he cracks jokes. but its because he’s very bitter and he vents his aggression with constant quips and jokes that aren’t QUITE insults, even towards his friends, because he’s just very frustrated and resentful of his situation in life. beast boy’s jokes are, often, hiding a sentiment of ‘FUCK YOU IN PARTICULAR��

its one reason why he and Cyborg gravitated towards each other; both of them are outcasts, distinctive even in the superhero community for being totally unable to ever live ordinary lives. Most heroes could, if they wanted to, just leave it behind them. Cyborg and Beast Boy can’t. they genuinely have no real alternatives that aren’t humiliating or ostracizing, and they stick in the hero life, no matter how painful it gets, because they have nothing else. Cyborg is openly more machine than man (and sometimes a mass of nanomachinery desperately holding on to his memory of what he used to look like) and Beast Boy’s bright green, has pointy ears, and sometimes has a furry exterior; he’s like Nightcrawler without the purpose in life.

Basically, there’s a reason Beast Boy started out in the Doom Patrol. And that’s because if you’re in the Doom Patrol, it’s because becoming a superhero ruined your life and left you unable to ever have anything in your life except fighting villains and monsters, because what else is there for you except that?

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You know, Beast Boy is so poorly used in the DCverse. At least for when he's new and no one knows what he does.

I mean, you have a character like Deathstroke or Ra's Al Ghul, who have trained their whole lives for every conceivable scenario... Who could go toe to toe with metas like Flash and demi-gods like Wonder Woman...

And then there's this weird little smart mouthed green boy talking smack to you. You take out your sword, and suddenly there's a tyrannosaurus friggin' rex lunging at you. How the fraggin' hell do you train to fight something that went extinct 65 million years ago?

Like... Gar is used for comedy value a lot, but rarely like that. And almost only in the Teen Titans cartoon.

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Titans’ Diet Rant

Okay, so, ~10 years ago, I read a fic in which the mayor of Jump City rewarded the Teen Titans with a set of personal assistants. The set included a nutritionist. The author had clearly not done the research on this subject, because the diet plan the nutritionist set for the Titans consisted of… a cup of peanut butter and a softgel fish oil pill. Per day.

This diet would 1) be extremely disrespectful of Beast Boy’s veganism (which actual nutritionists would have accounted for), 2) fail to cover the full spectrum of vitamins, minerals, and proteins a human needs to thrive, and 3) only provide about 130 Calories per day. As I’m sure you can recall, the average human being needs about 2000 Calories a day for maintenance and daily tasks. The Titans are far from average in this regard, and should probably be compared to Olympic athletes, who often reach daily Caloric requirements of ~8000.

I can easily see Robin having this kind of energy demand, what with all the acrobatic stunts he does, and the training regimen he has to maintain his abilities.

Beast Boy, while less consistent with the training, does often morph large mammals in combat. Did you know horses need 17,000 Calories per day, just for maintenance? I imagine Beast Boy’s weight fluctuates a lot, as he builds up a fat reserve in his down time, and burns through it in seconds when he morphs something large.

Cyborg’s Caloric requirements are probably closer to the ~4000 range, as, while he’s a big, active dude, not much of him requires food for maintenance.

As for Raven, I’ll have to elaborate on a headcanon of mine, and my reasons for it, for this to make any sense. So, I just read through the entire Teen Titans Go! comics archive, in which Raven does not once eat on-panel. In the cartoon series, she eats precisely twice on-screen: an apple in Spellbound, and multiple fruitpies in Mother Mae-Eye. This is significant, because we see the other Titans eat all the time, and Raven’s either not present, or just sitting in their general vicinity. On the other hand, we have frequently seen her substitute herbal tea for meals. Therefore, I propose that, as a human-demon hybrid, Raven can’t actually metabolize any molecules larger than a complex carbohydrate, and is an obligate emotivore (the herbal tea is a personal blend, and works as a sort of “digestive aid” for this). Peanut butter, being high in protein, and proteins being larger than complex carbohydrates, would do bad things to her.

And as for Starfire… hoo boy. So, real quick, let’s do a rundown of her canon-confirmed anatomical traits, and what they indicate: forward-facing eyes (depth perception) on a species that is no longer brachiating, if it ever was, and a slender torso (high-energy per digestive expense food) indicate a predator of some kind; nine stomachs (lots of processing power) and a 3-foot-long, prehensile tongue indicate a browser. So, we have a predatory omnivore, whose plant matter portion of her diet requires lots of digesting? That, or a recently non-brachiating herbivore adapted to eating food that has a high-energy yeild once you get past the super-tough husk. And that’s before you get into the chemistry of a species that can have chromium allergies - which no human could without suffering some major health effects, due to chromium being an important trace element for us - and eat glue without suffering an intestinal blockage - which, again, no human could, due to not producing anything that can break down that kind of adhesive. In conclusion, no well-meaning nutritionist in their right mind is going to touch Starfire’s diet, because the only person regularly on Earth who is remotely knowledgable about Starfire’s nutritional needs… is Starfire.

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Fridge Awesome

So, I was thinking about the Teen Titans cartoon today, and came to a realization: each Titan has their own unique fighting style, and it’s pretty consistent throughout the series.

Beast Boy’s is obvious: liberal shapeshifting, followed by usage of his current form’s primary offensive tactic, with a noted preference for large mammals.

Robin’s is also obvious, as he fights exactly the way you’d expect from an acrobat-turned-martial artist, that is, quick strikes, high kicks, and evasions that take full advantage of his agility and flexibility.

Still fairly obvious is Starfire’s, who is an artillerist, so she likes to hang back and shoot starbolts from a distance. However, should she end up in melee, she’s not totally helpless: being a princess from a warrior culture wherein rulers may be subjected to trial by combat, she couldn’t not have some technical skills, and indeed, if an opponent gets close to her, she tends to judo throw them before retreating to continue fire. Kicking is rare, but not unheard of from her, as both the first chronological and first broadcast episodes demonstrate. Most of the time when she actually strikes an opponent, she uses her fists after charging through the air.

Getting less obvious now is Cyborg’s style. You see, he too is (primarily) an artillerist. Unlike Starfire, however, he never received any formal combat training, so when he gets into melee, he grapples, throws wild haymakers, and never kicks. The few times we see him use his feet in combat, he is on his back, pinned by his opponent, making his usage of them throws rather than strikes. In other words, everything he learned about fighting, he learned from getting into brawls.

The one that surprised me was Raven. I’d expected her to be an artillerist as well, but no. Most of the time when she uses her magic in combat, she’s either picking up a big, heavy object with which to hit people, or shielding herself. Even more surprisingly, when she does fight hand-to-hand, she does so with technical skill, indicating formal training of some sort. Unlike Robin and Starfire, however, her style is open-fisted; also, it employs kicks less often than Robin’s, more often than Starfire’s. Basically, Raven fights like a magical Spartan who encountered Eastern martial arts and thought, “You know, I could use this,” and then proceeded to do so.

TL;DR If the Titans were completely depowered and the average person met them in a dark alley, Beast Boy could be tossed into the dumpster with ease, Cyborg would give as good as he got, Starfire would flip her opponent on their back and take the opportunity to skedaddle, and Robin and Raven would Fuck Their Shit Up.

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Beast boy for the headcanon character meme thing???

Yay! I love him, and I have plenty of headcanons about him.

Realistic: Not sure if this is actually super realistic but I like the concept of him having ADHD.

Hilarious: We didn’t see it but during “Employee of the Month” Beast Boy tried to get a job baby-sitting some kids. Long story short there’s a reason when the only two people Robin had available were Raven and Beast Boy to take Melvin and crew to safety, he chose Rae without a second thought.

Heart-crushing: After getting booted from the Doom Patrol, he for months tried to stay in close contact, but never got a response to any of his letters/phone calls/texts before giving up. The one time he did get a call, it was from Rita and not long after he stopped trying. He just let it ring.

Unrealistic: He’s asexual.

Thanks for the ask!

Send me a character and I’ll give you 4 headcanons

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Beast boy's superpower is underestimated, like brutally underrated.

Are you aware of how many lethal and psychotic animals Gar can transform? Bro imagine you're fighting against this lanky kid and boom a 800lbs bear rip you apart, or a lion, or a bull, or an elephant, or a cougar, or a mamba, or a moose, or a hippo (those bitches are fucking psychos I swear) or just almost any animal, even an anteater can put your ass in a coffin.

Just talking about titans Gar who can only transform into tiger rn: they weigh like 700 pounds, have a 1050 psi bite force and can stand even after they get killed. They also go for the neck when they want to put you out of existence.

I mean, that's pretty impressive.

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What HCs do you have about the religious affiliations of the teen titans?

Starfire probably has the the most straightforward faith out of all of them. She worships X'hal, who... it isn't really a fair comparison to say X'hal is Tamaranean Jesus. There's a lot of variations in how different Tamaranean sects worship X'hal. For some sects the analogue might be closer to Buddha, for others, X'hal is kind of an elevated hero-god where her mortal origins as a liberator are more emphasized, and for some, there's a heavy martyrdom aspect. As a Princess of Tamaran, Starfire kind of makes a point not to lean too hard into any hyper-specific interpretation of X'hal. She meditates on both X'hal's mortal origins and the aspects of her divinity, and how passion and compassion allow normal Tamaraneans to experience the divine in their own ways. Starfire's also aware that religion and politics can get messy fast, so for her, the sacredness of X'hal is also like... a bedrock for the sacredness of Tamaran's own cultural traditions, such as the authority of the the throne, and the weight of such actions as a challenge for the throne. Starfire is one of those rare people whose faith isn't there to reinforce her own biases, but to open her perspective and make her understand the weight of her own actions.

Technically (ha) Cyborg's Baptist, but neither of Cyborg's parents were particularly religious. Still, religion was important to them as a social function--keeping in touch with family members and the community in general, fostering connections that let Victor Stone's athletic career thrive. After Cyborg's accident though, Victor and Silas more or less dropped out of their local church altogether. They still got a bunch of food and casseroles and visitors weighing down on them mourning Elinore, and basically all the social exhaustion of that (combined with Silas plunging deeper into figuring out Victor's funky motherbox capabilities as part coping mechanism part 'What the shit is happening') saw a very fast exit from the community. Cyborg's own motherbox capabilities have kind of... blown his mind. It's kind of hard for him to fall back into the motions of that faith. There's still an affection and a nostalgia for it, but also like... I don't think he'd really get back into it unless his dad did, and there is no motivation for it on Silas's end.

Beast Boy is functionally agnostic. He's seen some weird shit with the Doom Patrol and he honestly has an absurdly high threshold for like... earth-shattering reality-bending shit compared to the other Titans. Rita had some Christian leanings but not really, so she didn't really force it on Gar all that much. She just raised him to be "an upstanding young gentleman" which like... stuck about 60%?? Beast Boy's faith can be boiled down to like...

Beast Boy: *mouth full of vegetarian chow mein* Why don't we talk about how King Shark is the son of Shark God? Are there other gods like Shark God? Is there a Crab God? Do you think Crab God and Shark God are cool with each other?

Robin has a really interesting blend of different faiths between some Romani folk practices of his parents, Bruce being interfaith, Kate being Jewish, some weird quasi-Buddhist stuff from Bruce's training, and a whole hodgepodge of different folk faiths that different members of Haley's Circus had. I don't know if it's fair to say he believes in a higher-power... at the end of the day, he's a boots on the ground guy. He's gotta look after himself and his team, and if there's a higher power, sure, whatever, that's great, but that's not something that can solidly figure into team logistics.

Raven. Hoo boy. Where to start with Raven. So like... in the comics, the monks of Azarath basically see Azar, the weird semi-immortal mystic old woman who guided them to Azarath, as kind of a god unto herself, but in the 03 show, there's like no mention of Azar at all. My personal interpretation is that... while Azar was this highly sacred and revered figure in Azarath, Raven actually got the most accurate, vulnerable, and honest look at her: An immortal who fucked up, who knows she fucked up, and is now desperately scrambling to prepare Raven as the last defense all of reality has against Trigon. And within Azarath, Raven had to keep up the appearance of this great reverence toward Azar to keep the rest of Azarath from falling into complete despair. So like... Raven is simultaneously aware of like... the power faith has, but she's also disillusioned with it. She's also repulsed by the cults of her father preying on the vulnerable. Ultimately, Raven's respectful towards virtually all religious beliefs--and she does see the force and merit in a lot of different ritual elements of them. She's not one of those assholes who's going to shit all over your faith because of her own trauma. Azarath raised her with a lot of hardcore compassion but... faith in general is something that gets her anxious. She believes in her friends. And like... as scary as it can get sometimes... at the end of the day, that's enough.